Guitar pre-amplifier using uA 741.

A preamplifier circuit suitable for high impedance type electric guitar pickups is given here.The circuit is based on a uA 741 op-amp (IC1).The IC1 is wired as a non-inverting amplifier.The POT R1 can be used as a volume controller.The POT R6 can be used as tone controller.The switch S1 is used to produce “brilliant” or “soft” tonal effects.

Circuit diagram with Parts list.

Notes.

Assemble the circuit on a good quality PCB or common board.

The amplifier can be powered from a 12V battery or 12V DC power supply.

You folks who know electronics, please advise me! I am wanting to design some buffer circuitry for a homebrew fancy guitar selector gadget. I know that op-amps will give me more flexibility in circuit design over JFETs, but some people have observed that op-amp buffers sound “colder and more sterile”.

Do you have any opinions? Would a JFET circuit really preserve the guitar’s tone better? If there is a difference that could be noticed, I think I’d be willing to do the more involved JFET design, though I’ll need to know how to boost the gain (I’ll want to boost the signal be a few db), which of course op-amps can do more easily.

Also, seems to me a JFET circuit might consume less power than using op-amps — Agree? Disagree?

I know this is a rather ethereal question, but if any of you know about this, please advise.